Local farmers benefit from recent rain
May 17—A yearlong dry spell has reached an end in Northwest Missouri, and farmers are feeling relief.
The area has been in some form of drought for the past year, but with the help of some rain in April and May, that is no longer the case.
Tim Gach, president of the Buchanan County Farm Bureau, recalls when two ponds went dry on the farm he operates with his brother Terry.
"We had to pump out of a well and take a generator with us every time to check the cows," he said. "Every other day, (we were) pumping water so they had water to drink."
The recent rain brought relief, and it was an inch above normal for May when Gach checked. The moisture is beneficial for crops like corn, which grows and helps shade the ground, allowing it to retain moisture.
"That moisture will stay there a really, really long time for that plant to be able to take that up and produce the optimum amount that it can," Gach said.
But rain is not always beneficial to farmers, especially when it is intermittent. Corn is less likely to sprout when the ground is too wet.
"If you have standing water, that's really problematic," he said. "There are just a few days that corn can actually survive in standing water before it kills it."
Being out of a drought helps farmers grow their crops and increase their supply. Consumers can sometimes see these results in the form of lower prices at the grocery store.
"On the other hand, whenever prices are kind of low, it does make things a little tougher for us to make ends meet," Gach said.
Relying on good weather, supply and demand changes and overseas competition can be an endless tug of war for farmers.
"We compete with Argentina and Brazil, and we compete for the markets in China and all the other countries, but there still is no one that can produce with the greatest efficiency and out of the amount that we have than the American farmer," Gach said. "We just do it best."
